As a result of the submissions voted on during the recently held class AGM, the Q&A section about production equipment has been updated. We will publish an article shortly about the changes made and what the game finally is now in 2012 shortly.

Q: For which disciplines do these rules apply ?
A: The production scheme rules only apply for the course racing discipline. Any other discipline has for the time being no regulation.

Q: Why has this rule been introduced ?
A: In all perfomance related disciplines the overarching idea is fairness, which means it should be the rider winning, not the equipment. To achieve this, every interested rider should be able to go in a shop and buy competitive equipment. In the past it happened too often that only riders with custom mades and/or prototype kites were able to win.

Q: If I want to become world champion, do I need a production board and kite ?
A: From 2012, everybody participating in international course racing competitions must be on registered production equipment. This applies to both boards and kites.
A list of the currently registered equipment can always be found on the IKA website, so before buying any equipment (boards AND kites) make sure that it is on the list !

Q: What is a production board ?
A: A production board is a board that has been registered with the IKA and fits into the new box rule. This means it must not exceed certain measurements (70 cm wide and 190cm long), and it needs to be built in a series production process (which means that all boards are exactly the same sizes) of at least 30 pieces per model

Q: What is a production kite ?
A: The same applies to kites, they have to be production manufactured in a series production process of at least 50 pieces per model (for sizes 11m and bigger) and 30 pieces for smaller kites.

Q: How many kites and boards am I allowed to use ?
A: The current class rules allow only three kites to be registered for an event. Only one board will be allowed to be used at an event.

Q: What happens to my old boards ?
A: If the boards that you already own are not yet registered, you will not be able to use them anymore in international competitions (that means competitions that give points for the course racing world ranking). But there are enough local and even national competitions where these class rules do not apply and where you can race on whatever equipment you want.

Q: Also boards from 2010 ?
A: All production boards (which have been included in manufacturers catalogues) of model year 2010 and before are automatically eligible for racing.

Q: And my old Kites?
A: All production kites (sold in shops and included in the brands brochures) of model years 2011 and before are automatically eligible for racing.

Q: What changes am I allowed to do on my board ?
A: The board has to be raced as it comes from the factory, so everything which is directly attached to the board must not be changed. There are only very few excetions: you are allowed to slightly change the foodpads, e.g. to make your feet fitting on them (if you have big feet...), or to change the position of your footstraps for a wider or narrower stance. However you must not add footstraps in completely new positions. We are talking about small changes here to adopt to your body dimensions. In any case, you cannot change the position of the fins or the fin box type.

Q: What about the graphics of the board ?
A: You will be allowed to attach you personal sponsor stickers to the board, even if this means that you have to take off some of the deck grip to make them stick. You are not allowed to "repaint" your board, the original board graphics must be maintained.

Q: Which fins can I use with my board ?
A: First of all you can use the fins that come with your board (if any), but apart from the you can use any other fins that you can buy (or produce yourself), as long as they fit in the standard fin boxes, so you cannot change to another fin box system nor can you change the position of the fin box. The only limitation in size is that the fin must not be longer than 50cm

Q: What changes am I allowed to do on the kite ?
A: The kite must remain as delivered from the factory, so you can not change bridles, line attachments etc.

Q: What about the colors of the kite and advertisement ?
A: You can order the kite in any color the manufacturer offers, plus you can order them in custom colors/designs with your sponsors already directly printed on the kite. However, all measurements, weight, attachement points etc must be the same.

Q: What about the lines and the bar ?
A: There is no restriction on which lines and bar you use with your production kite, you can also make modifications to the bar as you feel necessary. The only limitation is that the distance from the lowermost point of the chickenloop to any part of the kite must not exceed 45m.

Q: What happens if something breaks or get damaged ?
A: The highest principle is, that you can only replace and repair things to achieve the same condition as before, so if a fin box breaks out you must repair it with a fin box of the same type in the same position. The same applies to kites.

Q: And if the equipment is so much damaged that it cannot be repaired ?
A: If equipment is unintentionally damaged beyond repair, it may be replaced on a "like for like" basis after approval of the race committee. It can not be re-introduced later in the event if the replacement equipment breaks as well.

Q: How will it be controlled that equipment is production registered ?
A: When you register for the event (on site at the registration day) you must register the board and kites you want to use during the competition. Equipment inspection will take place randomly during the competition days, however it is the responsibility of every rider to have a look if one of his competitors is using equipment that he either did not register or which is not production. In this case you can protest that rider and he might get disqualified.

Q: Who is responsible that the equipment is meeting all the requirements ?
A: It is your sole responsibility that the equipment on which you are racing complies with the class rules, so you should make sure and measure exactly if the equipment you get out of the shop or from the manufacturer has the measurements that it should have.

Hi Toby I'm confused by race board rules for 2012. Do they have a rule yet as to state if custom boards can race? Or when is this ruling expected. Not sure when or what board to get for 2012? Hope you can help.

Last edited by johnnokeys on Fri Nov 04, 2011 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

johnnokeys wrote:Hi Toby I'm confused by race board rules for 1012. Do they have a rule yet as to state if custom boards can race? Or when is this ruling expected. Not sure when or what board to get for 2012? Hope you can help.

Hi Johnno

From my understanding (which is limited) you can not race at an international event on a custom board anymore "If the boards that you already own are not yet registered, you will not be able to use them anymore in international competitions (that means competitions that give points for the course racing world ranking)." So if you buy an non IKA registered board or a "custom made" you can only race it at local events which is not going to be much fun cos you will already give everyone else a flogging anyway

Just out of curiosity what are you looking at this year??
It would be really good to get you, me, Sean and Alty all on the same boards so we can get some closer racing going on.

Your CR69 should still be OK to race this season tho as i think it was registered last season

Also if you talk to Sean can you ask him to bring my board back. i wanna go for a kite tomorrow

From what I read in the Q&A above, looks like rules about production equipment are being enforced 100% this year, for both boards and kites. And the 1 board 3 kites rule remains (one of the suggestion was to increase or remove the maximum number of kites).

The AGM has been held during the first half of October. I am sure many of us are awaiting for the decisions that have been made. I wonder when Markus will publish the results. There were many suggestions brought up by various national associations on the agenda for the IKA annual general meeting. One of them was to get rid of all sort of board and kite registration.

what ive heard is its def going to be registered boards only for ika sanctioned events and looks like 4 kites which also have to be production and available by 1st march 2012 to be eligable to compete.
Johnno any news on the oz race nats being in wa?
thinking coming out again in the new year.
cheers
lee